Luke 1:54-55

Luke 1:54-55. Mary celebrates in this last strophe the faithfulness of God. That, in fact, is the foundation of the whole Messianic work. If the preceding strophe unveils to us the future developments of this work, this sends us back to its beginning in the remote past. Παῖς signifies here servant rather than son. It is an allusion to the title of Israel, servant of the Lord (Isaiah 41:8). The Master sees His well-beloved servant crushed beneath the burden which his pitiless oppressors have imposed, and He takes it upon Himself (middle λαμβάνεσθαι) in order to comfort him (ἀντί). This term, Israel His servant, seems at first sight to apply to the whole people; and doubtless it is this explanation that has led several interpreters to apply the expressions proud, mighty, rich, in the preceding verses, solely to foreign oppressors. If, as we have seen, the latter explanation cannot be maintained, we must conclude that by this Israel, the servant of God, Mary understands the God-fearing Israelites of the fiftieth verse, not as individuals, but as the true representatives of the nation itself. The faithful portion of the nation is identified in this expression with the nation as a whole, because it is its true substance; besides, Mary could not know beforehand how far this true Israel would correspond with the actual people. For her own part, she already sees in hope (aorist ἀντελάβετο) the normal Israel transformed into the glorified Messianic nation. Would such a view as this have been possible when once the national unbelief had apparently foiled all these Messianic hopes?

There is nothing here to hinder the infinitive of the end, μνησθῆναι, from preserving its proper meaning. To remember His promises signifies, in order not to be unfaithful.

Erasmus, Calvin, and others regard the datives τῷ ᾿Αβραάμ and τῷ σπέρματι as governed by ἐλάλησε, in apposition with πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας : “As He spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed...” But this construction is forced and inadmissible. Besides, the last words, for ever, if referred to the verb He spake, would have no meaning. Therefore we must make the proposition, as He spake to our fathers, a parenthesis intended to recall the divine faithfulness, and refer the datives, to Abraham and to his seed, to the verb, to remember His mercy. It is the dative of favour, to remember towards Abraham and...For Abraham, as well as his race, enjoys the mercy which is shown to the latter (comp. Luke 1:17). The words for ever qualify the idea, not to forget His mercy. Divine forgetfulness will never cause the favour promised to Israel to cease. Would any poet have ever put such words into the mouth of Mary, when Jerusalem was in ruins and its people dispersed?